15,897 research outputs found
Single cell performance studies on the Fe/Cr Redox Energy Storage System using mixed reactant solutions at elevated temperature
Experimental studies in a 14.5 sq cm single cell system using mixed reactant solutions at 65 C are described. Systems were tested under isothermal conditions i.e., reactants and the cell were at the same temperature. Charging and discharging performance were evaluted by measuring watt-hour and coulombic efficiencies, voltage-current relationships, hydrogen evolution and membrane resistivity. Watt-hour efficiencies ranged from 86% at 43 ma/sq cm to 75% at 129 ma/sq cm with corresponding coulombic efficiencies of 92% and 97%, respectively. Hydrogen evolution was less than 1% of the charge coulombic capacity during charge-discharge cycling. Bismuth and bismuth-lead catalyzed chromium electrodes maintained reversible performance and low hydrogen evolution under normal and adverse cycling conditions. Reblending of the anode and cathode solutions was successfully demonstrated to compensate for osmotic volume changes. Improved performance was obtained with mixed reactant systems in comparison to the unmixed reactant systems
MeV Right-handed Neutrinos and Dark Matter
We consider the possibility of having a MeV right-handed neutrino as a dark
matter constituent. The initial reason for this study was the 511 keV spectral
line observed by the satellite experiment INTEGRAL: could it be due to an
interaction between dark matter and baryons? Independently of this, we find a
number of constraints on the assumed right-handed interactions. They arise in
particular from the measurements by solar neutrino experiments. We come to the
conclusion that such particles interactions are possible, and could reproduce
the peculiar angular distribution, but not the rate of the INTEGRAL signal.
However, we stress that solar neutrino experiments are susceptible to provide
further constraints in the future.Comment: 7 pages, figure 1 changed, added reference
Orbital symmetry fingerprints for magnetic adatoms in graphene
In this paper, we describe the formation of local resonances in graphene in
the presence of magnetic adatoms containing localized orbitals of arbitrary
symmetry, corresponding to any given angular momentum state. We show that
quantum interference effects which are naturally inbuilt in the honeycomb
lattice in combination with the specific orbital symmetry of the localized
state lead to the formation of fingerprints in differential conductance curves.
In the presence of Jahn-Teller distortion effects, which lift the orbital
degeneracy of the adatoms, the orbital symmetries can lead to distinctive
signatures in the local density of states. We show that those effects allow
scanning tunneling probes to characterize adatoms and defects in graphene.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Added discussion about the multi-orbital case
and the validity of the single orbital picture. Published versio
Effects Of Mississippi River Water On Phytoplankton Growth And Composition In The Upper Barataria Estuary, Louisiana
Diversion of river waters to adjacent estuaries may occur during wetland restoration, navigation channel development, or storms. We proposed that diversions of nitrogen- and phosphorus-enriched waters from the river to estuarine waters would result in increased phytoplankton biomass and shifts to noxious or harmful algal blooms. We tested this hypothesis by conducting four seasonal microcosm experiments in which Mississippi River water was mixed at different volume ratios with ambient estuarine waters of three lakes in the upper Barataria Basin, Louisiana, USA. These lakes included two brackish lakes that were in the path of diverted Mississippi River water, and a freshwater lake that was not. The results from the 3- to 8-day experiments yielded a predictable increase in phytoplankton biomass related to nutrient additions from Mississippi River water. The subsequent decreases in the dissolved nitrate + nitrite, soluble reactive phosphorus, and silicate concentrations explained 76 to 86% of the increase in chlorophyll a concentrations in the microcosms. Our experiments showed that cyanobacteria can successfully compete with diatoms for N and P resources even under non-limiting Si conditions and that toxic cyanobacteria densities can increase to bloom levels with increased Mississippi River water inputs to ambient waters in the microcosms. Diversions of Mississippi River into adjacent estuarine waters should be considered in relation to expected and, possibly, unexpected changes in phytoplankton communities to the receiving waters and coastal ecosystems
Luminosity dependent clustering of star-forming BzK galaxies at redshift 2
We use the BzK color selection proposed by Daddi et al. (2004) to obtain a
sample of 1092 faint star-forming galaxies (hereafter sBzKs) from 180 arcmin^2
in the Subaru Deep Field. This sample represents star-forming galaxies at 1.4 <
z < 2.5 down to K(AB)=23.2, which roughly corresponds to a stellar-mass limit
of ~ 1 x 10^{10} Msun. We measure the angular correlation function (ACF) of
these sBzKs to be w(theta) = (0.58 +- 0.13) x theta["]^{-0.8} and translate the
amplitude into the correlation length assuming a reasonable redshift
distribution. The resulting value, r0 = 3.2^{+0.6}_{-0.7} h^{-1} Mpc, suggests
that our sBzKs reside in haloes with a typical mass of 2.8 x 10^{11} Msun.
Combining this halo mass estimate with those for brighter samples of Kong et
al. (2006), we find that the mass of dark haloes largely increases with K
brightness, a measure of the stellar mass. Comparison with other galaxy
populations suggests that faint sBzKs (K(AB)<23.2) and Lyman Break Galaxies at
z ~ 2 are similar populations hosted by relatively low-mass haloes, while
bright sBzKs (K(AB)<21) reside in haloes comparable to or more massive than
those of Distant Red Galaxies and Extremely Red Objects. Using the extended
Press-Schechter formalism, we predict that present-day descendants of haloes
hosting sBzKs span a wide mass range depending on K brightness, from lower than
that of the Milky Way up to those of richest clusters.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Magnetocaloric Studies of the Peak Effect in Nb
We report a magnetocaloric study of the peak effect and Bragg glass
transition in a Nb single crystal. The thermomagnetic effects due to vortex
flow into and out of the sample are measured. The magnetocaloric signature of
the peak effect anomaly is identified. It is found that the peak effect
disappears in magnetocaloric measurements at fields significantly higher than
those reported in previous ac-susceptometry measurements. Investigation of the
superconducting to normal transition reveals that the disappearance of the bulk
peak effect is related to inhomogeneity broadening of the superconducting
transition. The emerging picture also explains the concurrent disappearance of
the peak effect and surface superconductivity, which was reported previously in
the sample under investigation. Based on our findings we discuss the
possibilities of multicriticality associated with the disappearance of the peak
effect.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure
Poisoning with the recreational drug paramethoxyamphetamine ("death")
The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Objective: To describe the clinical features of paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA; "death") poisoning and to compare these with those of people with self-reported "ecstasy" poisoning. Design: Retrospective casenote review. Participants and setting: 22 patients who presented to the Emergency Department of the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), a major metropolitan teaching hospital, between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1998 with PMA poisoning identified through urine drug screens; and 61 patients with self-reported ecstasy poisoning between 1 September 1997 and 31 December 1998 found through the hospital databases. Results: Patients with PMA poisoning presented with tachycardia (64%), hyperthermia (temperature > 37.5ºC; 36%), coma (41%), seizures (32%), arrhythmias (23%), and QRS intervals 100 ms (50%) with greater frequency and often greater severity than those with self-reported ecstasy poisoning. Two patients with PMA poisoning presented with severe hypoglycaemia (blood glucose level, 7.5 mmol/L). Conclusions: At our hospital, PMA poisonings accounted for most of the severe reactions among people who believed they had taken ecstasy. Hypoglycaemia and hyperkalaemia may be specific to PMA poisoning. PMA toxicity should be suspected with severe or atypical reactions to "ecstasy", and confirmed by chromatographic urine drug screens.Liang Han Ling, Colin Marchant, Nicholas A. Buckley, Michael Prior and Rod J. Irvin
Void Formation and Roughening in Slow Fracture
Slow crack propagation in ductile, and in certain brittle materials, appears
to take place via the nucleation of voids ahead of the crack tip due to plastic
yields, followed by the coalescence of these voids. Post mortem analysis of the
resulting fracture surfaces of ductile and brittle materials on the m-mm
and the nm scales respectively, reveals self-affine cracks with anomalous
scaling exponent in 3-dimensions and in
2-dimensions. In this paper we present an analytic theory based on the method
of iterated conformal maps aimed at modelling the void formation and the
fracture growth, culminating in estimates of the roughening exponents in
2-dimensions. In the simplest realization of the model we allow one void ahead
of the crack, and address the robustness of the roughening exponent. Next we
develop the theory further, to include two voids ahead of the crack. This
development necessitates generalizing the method of iterated conformal maps to
include doubly connected regions (maps from the annulus rather than the unit
circle). While mathematically and numerically feasible, we find that the
employment of the stress field as computed from elasticity theory becomes
questionable when more than one void is explicitly inserted into the material.
Thus further progress in this line of research calls for improved treatment of
the plastic dynamics.Comment: 15 pages, 20 figure
Redshift-Space Distortions and the Real-Space Clustering of Different Galaxy Types
We study the distortions induced by peculiar velocities on the redshift-space
correlation function of galaxies of different morphological types in the
Pisces-Perseus redshift survey. Redshift-space distortions affect early- and
late-type galaxies in different ways. In particular, at small separations, the
dominant effect comes from virialized cluster cores, where ellipticals are the
dominant population. The net result is that a meaningful comparison of the
clustering strength of different morphological types can be performed only in
real space, i.e., after projecting out the redshift distortions on the
two-point correlation function xi(r_p,pi). A power-law fit to the projected
function w_p(r_p) on scales smaller than 10/h Mpc gives r_o =
8.35_{-0.76}^{+0.75} /h Mpc, \gamma = 2.05_{-0.08}^{+0.10} for the early-type
population, and r_o = 5.55_{-0.45}^{+0.40} /h Mpc, \gamma =
1.73_{-0.08}^{+0.07} for spirals and irregulars. These values are derived for a
sample luminosity brighter than M_{Zw} = -19.5. We detect a 25% increase of r_o
with luminosity for all types combined, from M_{Zw} = -19 to -20. In the
framework of a simple stable-clustering model for the mean streaming of pairs,
we estimate sigma_12(1), the one-dimensional pairwise velocity dispersion
between 0 and 1 /h Mpc, to be 865^{+250}_{-165} km/s for early-type galaxies
and 345^{+95}_{-65} km/s for late types. This latter value should be a fair
estimate of the pairwise dispersion for ``field'' galaxies; it is stable with
respect to the presence or absence of clusters in the sample, and is consistent
with the values found for non-cluster galaxies and IRAS galaxies at similar
separations.Comment: 17 LaTeX pages including 3 tables, plus 11 PS figures. Uses AASTeX
macro package (aaspp4.sty) and epsf.sty. To appear on ApJ, 489, Nov 199
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